What is Matcha?

Matcha is a special finely-milled green tea powder made from shade-grown leaves of Camellia Sinensis plants. During cultivation, special covers were applied over the plants for three weeks to produce shade, which induces production of chlorophyll, L-theanine and other valuable nutrients in the leaves. Unlike other green teas (where after steeping the tea, the leaves are removed), matcha is whisked with hot water (or cold water) and the entireity is ingested with all its valuable nutrients.

2. What are the different grades of matcha?

There are 3 main grades of matcha, namely:

Ceremonial Grade Matcha,

Premium Grade Matcha and

Culinary (Food or Cooking) Grade Matcha.

Ceremonial Grade Matcha is very high quality matcha.

The manufacturer of our Organic Japanese Matcha makes three grades of Ceremonial Grade Matcha called Ceremonial Grade AAA, Ceremonial Grade A and Ceremonial Grade B. Ceremonial Grade AAA organic Japanese matcha isSUPREME (the very best) and is made using only thefinest young (baby) leaves of the Camellia Sinensis plant, which were hand-picked and selected from the tea plants during the first harvest. It undergoes extra shading during cultivation, which produces a rich green colour. Ceremonial Grade Matcha is greener and more nutritious than lower grade matchas. One reason for this is the shading during cultivation. A second reason is that lower grade matchas contain more stems and veins than higher grade matchas. Stems and veins are less nutritious than the rest of the leaf. Research has shown that Ceremonial Grade matcha has a higher level of L-theanine than lower grade matchas. Ceremonial Grade matcha is recommended for whisking with hot water to make matcha tea. If you wish, you can use Ceremonial Grade matcha in a variety of food and drinks.

Premium grade matcha is high quality matcha. However, it is not as good as the Supreme/Finest Ceremonial Grade.

Culinary (Food or Cooking) grade matcha is not as good as Ceremonial or Premium Grade Matcha.

Culinary Grade Matcha is generally used as an ingredient in a variety of food and drinks, such as baked goods, matcha lattes, ices and smoothies. If you want to make matcha tea (matcha whisked only with hot water), we recommend that you use Supreme or Finest Ceremonial Grade Organic Japanese Matcha (not culinary grade matcha). As the name suggests, (authentic) CEREMONIAL grade is suitable for a tea CEREMONY. Tea ceremonies can be formal, semi-formal or informal.

Many companies use these descriptions. However, some companies define the word "premium" differently.